OTTAWA — France will continue using a Canadian military transport to ferry troops and equipment into Mali until the middle of next month, the government confirmed Thursday.

The move continues Canada’s indirect — and arguably reluctant — involvement in the conflict that been raging as French and Malian troops battle Islamist militants who have taken over the northern half of the country.

It also comes amid continuing debate over whether Mali should be a priority — or whether Canada should avoid getting drawn in further.

“Stay out, stay out, stay out,” said award-winning journalist and Middle East expert Robert Fisk. “Does anybody really think these (militants) in the desert, that they’re really going to show up with a nuclear bomb in downtown Toronto? I don’t think so.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced last week that Canada was contributing one C-17 Globemaster aircraft for a week to help move French forces into Mali where they are engaged in fierce fighting with Islamic militants linked to al-Qaida.

Hours before that commitment was set to expire, Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird confirmed the C-17 would remain in the area until Feb. 15.

“This Canadian military asset provides France an important strategic lift capacity that enables them to pursue a more stable and secure region,” MacKay said in a statement.

According to MacKay’s office, Canadian military C-17s have so far conducted six flights between France and Bamako, the capital of Mali, transporting more than 128 tonnes of equipment.

The decision to extend the C-17 mission came after the Harper government reached out to the opposition to ensure cross-party “consensus” on keeping the Canadian military aircraft in the region.

NDP leader Tom Mulcair told Postmedia News he spoke to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird on Thursday, and “we’re agreed that the C-17 is going to be in service for a few weeks.”

Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae has also indicated his party is in favour of Canada continuing to play a role in the conflict.

What that will be over the long-term remains very much in question.

Canada has faced international pressure to maintain — if not increase — its role in Mali, with troop-contributing nations France and Nigeria as well as the head of the African Union calling on Canada to help defeat the militant threat.

While acknowledging the seriousness of the threat, Harper has ruled out any “direct” military mission.

Insiders have indicated “war fatigue” within the Canadian political and public spheres, federal budget cuts, the fact the United Nations Security Council agreed to an African-led intervention, and questions over whether the conflict is of strategic importance to Canada have all contributed to a reluctance to get more involved.

A Commons committee will hold public hearings on the issue once Parliament returns next week, Mulcair said, even as he noted: “Mr. Harper has made it quite clear that he is extremely reticent about any direct Canadian military involvement, and we share that concern.”

Those in favour of a more involved role have warned that the militants pose a threat not just to African security and stability, but to the international community as a whole.

Former Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler welcomed the government’s decision to keep the C-17 in Mali, but said he was “not overwhelmed.”

Fowler has called for Canada to do more, arguing that the Islamic militants are a destabilizing force who can’t be allowed to control a swath of territory across Africa from which they can operate with impunity.

“I think it is preposterous to suggest that these guys do not pose a threat to vast numbers of people, first and foremost Africans, and everyone else,” he said.

But Fisk, the Independent newspaper’s Middle East correspondent and one of the few Western journalists to have interviewed Osama bin Laden, said the situation in Mali does not pose a direct threat to Canada — and he advised against getting involved.

He warned al-Qaida is trying to draw Western militaries into foreign conflicts.

And Fisk said Canada would become embroiled in a messy internal conflict between north and south that was raging decades before the Islamists arrived, and which is continuing even now amid reports Malian forces are executing and conducting other abuses against former rivals.

“We didn’t care about Mali when there was injustice there, when clearly it was a country involved in a big civil conflict with an army that is corrupt,” Fisk said, “and as we now know, is apparently involved in ethnic cleansing.”

MacKay acknowledged concerns about extra-judicial killings in an interview with the CBC Thursday.

Foreign Affairs officials have indicated Canada continues to look for other, non-military ways to contribute to the crisis in Mali, though specifics have yet to be determined.

The international community is scheduled to meet in Ethiopia in a few weeks to discuss the situation in Mali, including helping pay for the military intervention and providing humanitarian assistance to those in need.

Canada has provided Mali with hundreds of millions of dollars in aid over the past 40 years, while Canadian special forces troops helped train Malian government soldiers until March 2012, which has led many to say Canada is a natural partner for Mali.

But those efforts were suspended following a coup in March 2012, which precipitated the Islamic takeover in the northern half of the West African country.